I'm Jonathan Kapart and welcome to Kapart.

Problemista is a story about Alejandro, an aspiring toymaker from El Salvador

who was faced with being deported unless he can get a work visa.

This sobering surrealist story of the complicated U.S. immigration system

comes from the whimsical mind of comedian, actor, writer, and first-time director,

Puyotore, a former writer for Saturday Night Live

and a Peabody Award winner for his series,

Los Espuchies.

In this conversation first recorded for Washington Post live on March 13th.

Puliatoris talks about what led him to make a movie that so tracks his own issues

with the American immigration system, why he turned Craigslist into a person in the movie,

the importance of Elizabeth, a role incredibly played

by Tilda Swinton, and why he wanted Alejandro to be a fully fleshed out character.

You know, there's this burden that comes with the idea of who is allowed to be and who is not allowed to be in this country and that there is this idea that only the most extraordinary of people are granted the grace of stability, that only the most the brightest sharpest most pure of heart

are allowed the dignity to live a stable life as an area here and that's such a burden to carry.

So Proplaista is partially inspired by your life.

At what point did you realize that your story,

your life story could be a film?

Well, you know, it wasn't really until I started really playing with it, and I started really

allowing myself to bring in these sort of surrealist flourishes and adding those lights of fancy that make this movie what it is that I felt comfortable doing a movie about this.

But I think we all think that our experiences can be a movie

and obviously anyone's story can be a movie, but I didn't really feel like I had anything in my hands until I really found the tone of it, which is very, it's very honest to who I am.

...